Mount Blanket and Tickle-Kisses

One of their favorite things is climbing and rolling on a big puffy white comforter on the livingroom floor. Especially when it includes only wearing diapers. lol
First clip is of them playing on the blanket, then the other 2 (which are very short) are of Daddy doing tickle-Kisses on their necks. :) You can see Nicholas' poor nose :(


Nicholas:


Celia:

Sharing

Previously on a post I mentioned Celia does a good job of giving Nicholas his 'froggy'. Well, today he has been giving Celia her 'pink kitty'. He has a habit of taking it from her, but 2x today he has given it back to her (after being told to). At least its a start!

An Injury :(

This afternoon we had an injury. Nicholas tripped outside and fell. Jason and I both saw him first when he was rolled onto his back. Jason ran over to him and picked him up and he had a bleeding nose. Nicholas did one of those cries where he was silent before the big wail. :( We took him inside and washed him up and looked him over. It seemed that he fell on his forehead and then skinned his right nostril area. We put on Baby Signing Time and I rocked him so I could hold frozen peas on his forehead. This was the first time he actually let me hold something cold on his bumps. We called Grandma over to have her check him out since she worked in a preschool and daycare for years and has been through this stuff before. We made sure his pupils were normal, he could walk and was acting fine. Thankfully, he seems to be acting his normal self, but he will have a big bruise and a scabbed nose for a while. Poor baby! :(

He is talking!

Nicholas has started to say 'hi'. He says it almost in the same tone as Celia does, only in his voice. :) Its so cute!!! He has started signing more now too!
These are the signs they both can do:
Celia: baby, eat, lights, dog, frog
Nicholas: eat, more, dog, frog, and he tried 'bird'

They both LOVE the Baby Signing Time dvd. It is educational and they will sit and watch it in their little chairs the whole time. They both will go to the TV and point to the TV hoping it is time to watch baby signing time. If you have a baby, I highly recommend these dvds!! Here is a clip from baby signing time disc 2:


Pictures from Flashback (Saturday) lol :)
Mommy on bedrest (23 weeks) having a facial with her super fun Aunts! (I was drinking caffeine free Mt. Dew as a treat! Otherwise I was usually drowning myself in water!) ----->

Grandpa and Grandma from the Bay :)
Grandma M. with her little twins!
Grandpa M with N&C :)

At The Park

A Couple quick cute twin stories from today....
1. Nicholas pinched his finger in my dresser drawer today as I was putting clothes away and cleaning up. He started crying pretty hard and I was consoling him. Celia walked from my bedroom into their bedroom, got Nicholas' froggy and brought it to him to help him feel better! I was SO proud of her! I wanted to hug her and kiss her (and did as well as I could while still holding Nicholas). What a sweet sister!

2. While I was making lunch for them they were sitting in their chairs watching 'Baby Signing Time' (which is their all-time most favorite thing to watch!). I heard giggles coming from the livingroom and here they are playing footsy with each other and laughing.

This afternoon I took them on a walk to the park. I was talking to my Grandma (their Great-Grandma) on my cell phone. I put them in the swing together and took some pictures while still talking on the cell phone. And my Slr camera needs 2 hands, so these were taken with my head cocked to my shoulder. lol

Learning to Listen......sometimes

I was jusssssttttt saying this evening to Jason how the twins seem to be actually starting to catch on to me when I say 'no' or something else to them in regards to their behavior. Both Jason and I have been trying to be very consistant with teaching them to stop throwing their cups and food from their highchairs since they are certainly getting old enough to learn this. Celia also loves to stick her hands in the garbage and we have been working on teaching her to listen to us on that one too. Also, they have their chairs in the livingroom that we are teaching them to sit on, not stand.
Well, this morning Celia and Nicholas both were trying to play with the trash and recycles. I said "no Celia. no Nicholas" and they both stopped and walked away. This afternoon Nicholas climbed up onto his little chair and stood. I said "oh Nicholas, sit" and he sat down! Wow, could it really be happening? Are they getting it? Of course everytime they listened today I cheered and carried on!
So, at dinner I am telling Jason how nice they did today with listening and then our sweet children decided to test us to see if by some chance thursday evenings are "throw your food on the floor night and mom and dad will think it is funny". Celia only tried once and stopped. Nicholas continued to throw his watermelon, cup, and turkey off the highchair. He ended up on baby time out, which we turned his highchair around so he wasn't sitting with us at the table. He kept trying to turn in his seat to see us (it was actually hard to keep a straight face).
So, at least I see a glimmer of hope!

Tonight as they were drinking their bedtime bottle they were both breathing through their noses! Whohoo! I think the cold is passing! If not for Celia being miserable about her teeth I think they would both sleep well tonight. Poor girl.
Well, here are some pics I took practicing with my manual settings. I bought a book called Understanding Exposure and it is great!

A MOLAR

Tonight I was giving putting orajel on Celia's gums since she has 4 top teeth coming through. As I was rubbing it on I felt something sharp and rechecked.... she has the point of her top right molar through! Wow! So the poor little girl has 4 top teeth, 2 bottoms and a molar coming almost all at once. I have heard molars are painful, so that explains the crying lately. :(

Sand and Water

We picked up a Step 2 Sand and Water Table. We needed something for them to do outside aside from digging in wood chips (Nicholas has a sliver from that!). I had heard they were selling them for a great deal at Aldi grocery store (only $49.99, normally a lot more). I can assure you that they were very messy and the sand/water were mixed, but thats what kids do. Celia wants to take the sand away and dump it in the woodchips and I wouldn't let her so it was a battle the whole time. I don't know if I should let her or if I should keep making her keep the sand at the sand table?

Nicholas post

Today I stopped at a resale shop to pick up some sun hats (and also found some cheap sandals to try). While I was there I finally bought this Melissa and Doug Wood Stacking Toy. I had been thinking about buying it for quite a while and finally did. Our resale shop sells these Melissa and Doug toys new and this one was only $9.99. When I brought it home Nicholas LOVED it right away. He seriously played with it for maybe 25 minutes straight. The picture of the tall tower he stacked, he did all by himself. The first 5 or 6 blocks were on the peg, but after that they were just stacked.

The other funny thing that Nicholas did today was learn to walk in circles. He kept doing it over and over while Celia was sleeping (he refused his afternoon nap by talking in his crib for 45 min so I took him out so Celia could rest). He has also learned to stomp and also to walk backwards. He has been practicing backing up with his push toys, but a few days ago I caught him carefully walking backwards without any support.

The Post of Many Posts

Nicholas has started signing 'eat' and 'more' this weekend. This morning he was just walking down the hallway signing 'more', like he was just thinking about it (which I've read that kids can sign what they are thinking, not necessarily in context). Celia has started doing 'eat' more often as well - she does the sign 'baby' a lot too.
Nicholas was stacking blocks and I caught him as he was finishing (aka knocking them over). He was doing so well! He had stacks of 5 or 6 at a time. Celia has no interest in stacking the blocks - she prefers to knock them over. Then he showed me the sign for 'more' and 'eat.



It is BEAUTIFUL out today! 75 degrees, sunny and actually pretty hot! We might actually fill the baby pool with warm water later and let them splash around. Its actually warm enough for that! To think we had snow last week - lol.

We have our cat cage outside and this afternoon N&C crawled inside. Might be a nice way to contain them don't you think (of course, I'm KIDDING)! lol
p.s. today as I was hanging their cloth diapers on the clothes line I am feeling like one of those families I thought we never would become. The families with cluttered backyards full of children's toys!!!

Here Nicholas is with one of the Magna Doodles. These were baby shower gifts from their Aunt Lori and they really enjoy them. Nicholas thinks it is great when the screen gets erased. He will draw a line or squiggle and then give it to me to erase. Kind of like the kids who like to make one mark on a piece of paper and then get more paper (which is what Celia does with paper).

Yesterday Daddy was cleaning out the garage and N&C and I were in the house. They think its quite funny to pretend they are going to do somersaults. We just say 'put your hands down' and they get right into position for us to flip them over. lol

Flashback Friday

Summer 2007




I can't imagine the fun they will have this summer in their little pool (if they still fit!).

On other news, Nicholas, Celia and I are all sick with this darn cold. I can hear her coughing through the monitor right now. The first day we all had sore throats. Celia would cry when she sneezed and Nicholas would cry when he swallowed. Now it is a cough, raspy voice and a drippy nose. Nicholas seems to be on the mend on his third day. Celia is on her 2nd day and I am on my first full day of being sick . Hopefully it doesn't last too long. Its no fun at all. I would rather myself just be sick and have them feel better.
I just went in to their room to calm Celia just now. She is so cute. She loves to sleep in the corners of her crib. She was sitting in the middle of her crib crying with her raspy voice. So I picked her up and gave her a hug saying "sssshhhh baby. Its okay". I wiped her nose (which was dry, but I had to check) and gave her pink kitty (her blankie), her nukie and she started squirming to get back in her bed. So I put her in her bed and she crawled to the corner, scooted her butt into the corner and closed her eyes. Just kind of sweet. :)
At night I've been setting out 2 cups of water (one for each) and the nose sucker, kleenex and Vicks. If one wakes up being uncomfortable we go into the kitchen for them to get a drink and unplug their nose if it needs it. Sometimes just the change in location kind of calms them down. Then a kiss/hug and back to bed. It worked well last night. Celia woke up 2x last night and Nicholas 1x. Hopefully all of us can get some good sleep tonight and Celia is on the mend tomorrow as well.

The Lamp

We usually keep the chair and couch tight to the end tables (which are in the corners of the room) so they can't get to the photo frames, etc. But after trying to keep them out the last few days, I let them go back there and they figured out how to turn the light on/off. They thought it was pretty cool. lol

Beautiful Weather!!

I figured its been a while since I posted a little video clip. Today was so beautiful out! It was in the low 70's, sunny, but very windy. We were outside maybe 3 hours today. It was great! I wanted to get clips of how Celia is almost running now. She is so funny because I noticed she doesn't use her arms a lot when she walks. Its like she uses her core muscles to balance - and she is very good at balancing. So maybe you can check out how she really moves on this clip. Nicholas is getting quicker too. He has the typical toddler gait.
Please excuse the cage out in the video. We put our cats in there sometimes so they can sun themselves and enjoy the nice weather. You can see the cloth diaper inserts hanging on the line along with an outdoor blanket (my Grandma knitted it for me years ago - the cranberry colored blanket). The gate across the driveway is not real strong, but mostly a deterant for the babies.


Nicholas is hanging in there. He hates having his nose sucked with the aspirator, but I'd rather him have a fit for it than the mucous collecting in his lungs. I think he'll get better soon. I've noticed I have a scratchy throat and a bit of nose drip, but I've been taking Zicam and it seems to be getting rid of it. Celia is okay so far too.

Oh, and I thought this was cute. A few days ago Nicholas woke up from nap before Celia and so he was snuggling with me on the couch and Gideon came over and snuggled on Nicholas. It was so sweet!

Nicholas is hit hard!

Wow this cold came out of no where! He is SO sick already! He was crying a lot last night because he couldn't breathe out of his nose. I had to hold him down to suck out his nose with him crying so hard because he didn't want me to touch his nose. He has a LOT of gunk in there. This morning he woke up at 7:20am crying and I sucked his nose with our Bebe sounds nasal aspirator and it almost filled the cup! He is sneezing and his eyes are swollen. Its a big cold! He is sitting here hardly touching his breakfast. He will only eat raspberries.
After breakfast we will have to go to the store to stock up on Cold supplies. Orange juice, Vicks Vaporub, Vapor plug-ins, pedialyte.... AND bleach so I can clean all their toys!
Thankfully Jason gets home this afternoon. And hopefully we can try to keep things clean for Celia.

Uh oh

Tonight I am noticing Nicholas has a runny nose. I think they are both fighting a cold. They had a cold in maybe November or December (that was their first and only so far) and it was rough. They had trouble sleeping from the nasal drainage so they were up crying a lot then. They were both really fussy after their afternoon nap, and when they are little like this it is hard to tell if their throat hurts too. Might have to give them some of Grandpa's honey.
I wish they made Zicam for babies (its homeopathic). I think tomorrow I will stop at Walgreens and get more of the Vicks vapor plug-in things for them. And will have to get the humidifier out. Maybe make some homemade chicken noodle soup too (they say it REALLY helps).
Might be a long night :(

Our Sunday

Sunday was pretty much a relaxed day. Aunt Angela came over with baby Lauren to visit. Lauren is getting SO big!!! She is a chubby little girl and so cute. :) She is cooing and smiling so much!
I was taking pictures with my camera a lot. I grabbed one of N&C each that was cute.
I like how Nicholas is rolling his tongue in this picture. :)
Celia with my mom and baby Lauren.
My Dad with Celia

Later on after N&C went to bed, Jason and I put up more lawn fence in the backyard. It worked out great. It will give them freedom to walk and play in an area that is safe for them - vs running to the neighbors fence where the dogs are (I like dogs, but I am very cautious around dogs I don't know - ESPECIALLY when it comes to small children. Just ask Cesar Millan!) . By the time we had the fence up it was dark. Then I cleaned the house up while Jason took out the garbage and packed for his work trip to Iowa. He will be gone until Wednesday afternoon. So its just us 3 for a while. It should be very nice out this week (even up to 72 on Wed!!!!), so we will be outside a lot! Time to break out the sunscreen soon!

Please pray for our insurance issue

UPDATE (April 14): Insurance said they needed to verify if we had other insurance before processing. She said "If you ever get a statement saying no coverage, then just give us a call". Well, no kidding we will call! And it should be illegal to do this to a person over the weekend!
Long story short, it should be our regular 80/20 coverage (which is still pretty high of a bill, but thank goodness less than $8600). Now we can breathe!!!
______________________

Today we got an unpleasant surprise!!! Our insurance bill from my surgery (from the miscarriage) came and it says we owe the full amount (about $8600). That nothing was covered!!!
I even called the night before the surgery to leave all the requested info and then the morning of the surgery I called the insurance rep and asked her if there was anything we should do and if we were all set, and she said we were fine. So this is a huge shock and a huge amount of money.
We can't call until monday since they are closed, but I am asking that for prayers out there to help this be resolved!

Flashback Friday - Pride and Joy

Our Pride and Joy!!!! Taken somewhere at about 7 months old!!

Today the babies and myself were busy! We left the house at 9:15am and drove to the Coast Guard station at the Port of Milwaukee (about an hour drive) to pick up a playhut I bought from someone on Craig's List. The husband worked at the Coast Guard. Normally, I wouldn't go pick something up like that myself, but since it was the Coast Guard I felt fine. It was very foggy on our drive there.
Since I was in Milwaukee, we stopped by my old school that I taught at before I left on bedrest. It was nice to visit with my old colleagues. It was funny because Nicholas was the outgoing one and Celia just wanted me to hold her (not their typical order). Nicholas loved the kindergarten classroom so much. He was rushing all over the room trying to play with the kids. I declined my contract offer as well, so it means I am done at that school district. It was kind of a sad moment because I did enjoy it there. However, I enjoy being home with N&C more and they grow so fast. Since we have the blessing to be able to stay home, then I am happy to take this opportunity to be there with them all day, every day. Still a closing of one chapter in my life for now, so a little sad.
I fed N&C a PB&J in the staff lounge and then changed their diapers in the back of the minivan and we started towards home. Once we were back, I took them through the bank and then to the post office to mail and package. I didn't want to unload their big double stroller each time, so I just put one in an umbrella stroller and carried the other.
It was actually neat to be out with the 2 of them by ourselves. I seriously believe this is the first time I have been out with them for most of the day by myself. We didn't get home until almost 2pm! It was kind of neat. And they were well-behaved as well so that was fun.

Another diaper duty helper..

Well, Nicholas has joined Celia in diaper duty. While changing her poopy diaper this afternoon nicholas grabbed a handful (about 10 wipes) and wiped her little tushy. Luckily I was pretty much done with the dirty work. This is the gross part.... then after he wiped her tush he started to try to put the wipes in his mouth (they both try to grab wipes out of the container to put in their mouth all the time). Thankfully I grabbed it and stopped him in time.
Celia has started to try to grab her own tushy when I am changing her so it was such a battle to try to keep her hands out of her "area", keep Nicholas from trying to wipe her tush and him from putting the used wipes in his mouth. Oh the joys!
Afterwards we had a major handwashing session for all 3 of us!!!

Another cute thing- at lunch today Celia has started to greet her food with a cheerful "hi" before she eats it. Here is the script:

I put mac and cheese on her tray,
Celia: "Hi!" she says to her food as she grabs a handful.
I put beets on her tray
Celia: "hi" again before she stuffs them in. ( The funny thing is she looks right at the food and says "hi" like it knows what she is talking about)
My response to Celia "Well, that sure is kind of you, Celia". (me giggling)

His heart on his sleeve

Nicholas has been extra emotional the last few days. He is more sensitive than Celia to begin with. Just wears his heart on his sleeve. Whereas Celia is more confident, independant and determined. She has always been this way and I am sure she will benefit from these personality traits in her life.
There have been a few times in the last few days where I have been out and Jason home and Nicholas has had moments where I think he is realizing I am not home and gets separation anxiety. The crying when I leave is starting. This is typical of this age and tends to coincide with a growth in emotional development. From what I've read it is best to just hold them and reassure them as long as they need (or if I have to leave, don't sneak out, let them know I am leaving with a hug/kiss and leave).
He has been having these random "melt downs" where something will just make him so sad. I think his teeth are also coming through (isn't it always teething) as well. He keeps chewing on his hands and rubbing his gums. He's just a sensitive little guy.
This is an excerpt out of "What to expect the Toddler years"p.409
"Toddlers, in general, cry a lot. Thats true of both girls and boys. In fact, studies show that before the age of twelve, crying patterns are pretty much the same in both genders"....
"Yet, in spite of the fact that he cries easily, a sensitive child is not unhappy. In fact, children who are supersensitive tend not only to cry freely, but to laugh easily as well. And there are other upsides to being sensitive, too: Your child is more likely to be more aware of the feelings of other people and even animals (though at this age, that kind of empathy will probably still be limited). He may also be more perceptive and observant in general, which could serve him well in countless ways thoughout his life".

Of course, we don't play into the crying and make him know he can get attention for it. And we try to be very consistant with our discipline as well (though we are finding he and Celia require different types of discipline since she is a little more "determined", lol).

Having twins surely has taught me that there is a lot of truth to the "nature" philosphy (Nature vs Nurture). Here Nicholas and Celia have been together all the time, had the same parental interaction and have experienced the same things and here we have two very different children.

However, parenting these two is by far my "dream job". I just sit back and revel in them and what joy they bring to us (even during those tough moments). Their kisses and hugs are worth more than anything the world could offer.

Having Fun :)

New Camera

Our elusive 3rd cat (Nemo) who only comes out after its quiet at night. This is on manual mode with low light in the livingroom! I am getting something that isn't all black! lolNo thats not a cigar (ha ha) its her toothbrush...
She was REALLY ready to get out of her highchair, but it was the only way to keep her semi-still!
Nicholas had food specks on this face (below), probably spices from the sauteed zucchini. :)

Last week I bought a SLR (single-lens reflex) camera off ebay. I have so much practice and reading to do to start to improve my photography skills. I've been on some photography message boards and the photos I felt were my best are nothing compared to other people. I know I can learn and do well eventually, but I have a lot of work to do! My camera came today. It is a Canon EOS Rebel XTi 400D SLR camera - 10.1 mega pixels (my point and shoot camera is 5.1 mega pixels).
I didn't try taking pictures until right before the twins were getting ready for bed. I know they aren't anything near the skill I have yet to get to, but thought I would post a couple pictures that I took. I really don't like to use the flash at all, and I need to work on how to avoid it. From what I've been reading a telephoto lens (I believe) helps capture more light and therefore is able to take pictures in low lighting settings without using to high of an ISO....
If anyone who reads this has a similar camera and has tips on it - please let me know. I already think getting another lens would be great, but everything photography is pretty pricey. And anyone with babies or small children in my area - if your up to letting me practice on your little one(s), I am game!

Diaper Duty

Thought this was cute....

This morning I am changing Nicholas' diaper (just pee) and Celia walked over and bent down to the wipes container. She pulled one wipe out and stepped towards Nicholas. I was watching her and I could see what she intended. She bent over and gently used the wipe to wipe Nicholas' pee pee one time. Then she stood up, walked back to the wipes container and put the wipe right back in. Then walked away.

Thanks Celia. Thanks. :)

The outside gate to save Mommy's Sanity

We've been thinking about how to block off the driveway from the backyard since our garage is set back behind the house and the kiddos like to rush down the driveway - and of course in opposite directions. So, Jason thought of how to take lawn fencing and stretch it across the driveway with a steel stake. It was a little flimsy, but with a wood board to stabilize the bottom, it works - hey...it was $10.00. And all we have to do is slide one end off the stake and fold it over. It worked pretty good today.
Then of course, Nicholas and Celia have now decided they want to walk across all the lawns to the neighbors yards. lol

Jason and I went to our small group bible study last night and when we got there, we realized that we had the wrong night. Oops! So we went to Target and picked up a pair of jeans and 2 shirts for each baby. I love the shirt we bought for Nicholas which says..... "I still live with my parents" (it just cracks me up!)

First trip to the ZOO!!!

It was a ZOO at the ZOO today! It was beautiful! Up to 60 degrees, sunny a little windy, but great!!! It was Milwaukee County's Family Free Day, so it was extra crowded. But we left the house at 9:15am and got there by 10am, so we were there early enough to beat the super crowded time.
there is a bear in it's "hot tub" - thought it was funny. :)
I brought their animal books so I could point to the animal they know it the book and then show them the real animal in the enclosures. Celia seemed to like the monkeys a lot. :)
We stopped and ate at an outdoor area - this is the part where I thought of how good I am getting with germs. Granted I washed the table with Lysol Wipes, but they probably got some good antibodies eating off the table. lol

we had a great time!! It was so nice to get outside. We had two tuckered out babies on the way home. :)

p.s. there is another post below - pretend it was from friday. ha ha

(Pretend its Friday) Our walk to the Park

ha ha - I have 2 posts to do - so pretend this post is from yesterday. :)

We went to the park yesterday by our house since it has been into the upper 50's!!!! We walked to the baseball diamond grassy area and let N&C walk! Celia loves just being unleashed. She just cracks us up with her purposeful walk. We feel like her holding a clipboard would just complete the picture! ha ha Nicholas is more cautious, but eventually they both wanted to go join the boys that were playing football. :)


Then they went on the swings! Grandma M. - beware, it might make you feel nauseous to watch it!


On our way home, Celia was not happy to be back in the stroller. lol This is the flashback friday part of it (comparing last Fall in the stroller to this summer).

Nicholas in Love

Well, Nicholas certainly has an eye for the ladies! My friend Julie came over last night and he practically ran to her when she came in. He is usually quite shy with people, but he was seriously flirting with her all night. Usually when he does something funny he will look at me or something, but instead he was looking to Julie. It was too cute!
Nicholas is also in-love with the 'Neighborhood Animals' dvd. It is a Baby Einstein Dvd. His face just lights up when it comes on T.V. I have it checked out from the library, but I keep renewing it because he loves it. When he is cranky to eat and dinner is not done, I can put the dvd in and it keeps him happy. Celia likes it too, but she is such a doer that she doesn't sit long enough to watch that much. :)
Here is a video clip of his reaction when the dvd came on today:




Kitty Gideon playing with Nicholas in his crib:



AND we got our photo back from Hobby Lobby all framed! We just love how it turned out!!! It is a black frame, but it reminds me of a New Orleans type style. I have to think if we should accent the wall with something else, so if you have any ideas - let me know!